A convicted murderer whose parole was rescinded should be released
because then-Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and the U.S. Parole
Commission engaged in a string of improper and unlawful actions to keep him
behind bars, a federal magistrate has determined.

In a harshly worded opinion on Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Susan S. Cole of
Atlanta wrote that the parole commission showed bias in its dealings with
Veronza Bowers Jr., a former Black Panther serving a life sentence in
connection with the 1973 slaying of a federal park ranger near San Francisco.
Gonzales intervened to keep Bowers in prison after a memo from
then-Commissioner Deborah Spagnoli, a former White House aide. Cole concluded
that the attorney general "had no statutory or regulatory authority"
to seek a review of the matter.

"The impartiality of the Commission as a whole was affected by the actions
of Commissioner Spagnoli, the Attorney General and others," Cole wrote.

"The taint on the Commission's decision-making could not be eradicated
simply by an order from this Court directing the Commission to grant [Bowers] a
new parole hearing." As a result, she wrote, the decision to keep Bowers
imprisoned "cannot stand."

A federal judge will review Cole's recommendation. A commission spokesman
declined to comment. Bowers's attorney, Charles D. Weisselberg, said his client,
who has always maintained his innocence, was confident that a court looking
closely at his case would rule in his favor. "It was wonderful to hear the
excitement in his voice," Weisselberg said.

Without the knowledge of other commissioners, The Post reported, Spagnoli wrote
a 14-page memo about Bowers to Gonzales's office and had a number of exchanges
with senior Justice Department officials. Eight days after the memo, Gonzales
took the apparently unprecedented step of asking the commission to
"clarify" its "initial decision." The commission then
reversed itself.

Spagnoli did not respond to a message left at her home. She told The Post last
month that she did nothing improper.

"The decision-making process . . . was rife with impermissible
considerations," Cole wrote. She called Spagnoli's memo "a polemic
against the decision to parole" that omitted all information favorable to
Bowers.

Cole noted that the commission was up for reauthorization at the time and that
Gonzales had the power to recommend it be closed.